Describe your background and industry experience, and explain how it will help you contribute to the SOCAN Board of Directors?
I’m a SOCAN Award winning songwriter, ARIA #1 writer/producer/audio engineer and have built our independent business into a successful enterprise over the past decade from our home studio in Calgary, AB. I’ve had over 250 songs recorded and in a variety of genres, TV and film and have had to do all this without the assistance of publishers, labels, or representation. We help run Canada’s largest independent songwriter group, The Calgary Songsmiths, which hosts free monthly learning sessions to over 600 participants annually. Additionally, I sit on the Board of the Songwriters Association of Canada and the board for Canada’s Music Incubator.
In your opinion, what issues will be most important to SOCAN members over the next three years?
Besides royalty rates from digital platforms (likely our biggest concern), I feel more than ever our national music organizations are in a position to foster development of industry and music creation in our major centres coast to coast. We lose vast amounts of talent to US music centres, leaving lost opportunities on the table for production studios, music organizations, venues and the like. With the digital era fully upon us, there is great opportunity to spawn a new era of music creation on our native soil.Â